Pages

Monday, June 27, 2011

Asus Transformer Eee Pad TF101 vs. Acer Iconia A500 Netbook Review

There are two new low cost tablets that just hit the stores recently. These Honeycomb powered tablets are the Iconia Tab A500 from Acer and the Transformer TF101 from ASUS. One glitch that you could find almost immediately is that they seem to be twins. It is hard to tell them apart. On the surface, they have similarities such as the screen size. Both are 10.1 inches capacitive screens with 1280×800 pixel resolution. Both run on the NVIDIA Tegra processor. Both tablets offer both 16GB and 32 GB memory options. There are also micro SD slots for extra 32 GB. In other aspects, they are all too similar. A notable difference would be the Transformer’s more brilliant screen that shows better white and black colors. This is thanks to the IPS LCD screen used by ASUS for this tablet. The viewing angles are similar to those of an iPad. Transformer has a wider viewing angle at about 178 degrees, compared to 160 degrees of Acer Iconia.The Transformer is slightly wider compared to Iconia. Of course, there is also the keyboard dock for the ASUS tab. When it comes to battery life, it seems like ASUS was on a roll. It beats Iconia in battery life with is 9.5 hours which is 1.5 hours longer compared to Iconia which is not bad at all. However, it does not stop there since if you include the keyboard dock with its own battery and that means it can extend up to 16 hours, defeating Iconia and more than that, defeating the iPad 2.

For those who are inspired by mere looks, Transformer offers a good grip and is quite light. The back has a nice texture to it, you can say it feels very high end. Transformer also did some significant changes on the Honeycomb OS and now it adds some customizations so that you can improve the functionality of the Honeycomb OS. If you need more connectivity, Iconia has a lot to offer. There is Micro USB synching. There is a dock connector, USB Hosting compatibility with MicroHDMI and MicroSD as well as a charging socket. When it comes to multimedia experience and browsing, since the specs are all too similar, they are head to head on this aspect. ASUS is not yet finished with its baffling features. It has a 5MP camera located at the back and on front, a 2MP camera.

ASUS has a clear winner with its transformer. It is quite on the pricey side and with the keyboard dock; it is $50 more expensive than iPad 2. Nonetheless, it is a very powerful device and it seems very robust, well designed and the keyboard dock makes it all the more functional. The Iconia is left behind at some aspects but it is still a pretty decent tablet for your web browsing and app utilization aspects. It does not hurt though that the Transformer is really nice looking. It is still too early to say if Transformer will be able to snatch some audience from iPad 2 but nonetheless, it is a really nice product and it is worth the money.